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A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

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98 <strong>Japanese</strong> Miscellany<br />

that it shall revive the memory <strong>of</strong> something<br />

seen or felt, — that it shall appeal to some ex-<br />

perience <strong>of</strong> sense. The greater number <strong>of</strong> the<br />

poems that 1 am going to quote certainly fulfil<br />

this requirement: the reader will find that they<br />

are really pictures, — tiny color-prints in the<br />

manner <strong>of</strong> the Ukiyo-ye school. Indeed almost<br />

any <strong>of</strong> the following could be delightfully imaged,<br />

with a few touches <strong>of</strong> the brush, by some <strong>Japanese</strong><br />

master —<br />

:<br />

Picture-poems about Dragon-flies<br />

Ine no ho no<br />

Tombo tomari<br />

Tarenikeri.<br />

An ear <strong>of</strong> rice has bent because a dragon-fly perched<br />

upon it.<br />

Tombo no<br />

fida ni tsuitari<br />

Wasure-guwa.<br />

See the dragon-fly resting on the handle <strong>of</strong> the forgotten<br />

mattock .1<br />

* The kuiva is shaped like a hoe, but is a much heavier tool. When<br />

left with the heavy blade resting flat upon the ground, as suggested in<br />

this little word-picture, the handle remains almost perpendicular.

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